Recently the researchers are increasingly examining the correlation of multiple sclerosis with food and have noticed that fat has a significant role in the development and the course of the disease.

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease of unknown cause, with symptoms that range from mild to severe which disempower the man. A connection is found between the disease and the nutrition. The population that eats a lot of fat, especially dairy fat, has a high incidence of multiple sclerosis. It seems that the residents of fishing villages are very resistant to it. This increases the suspicion that certain irregularities in the welding fats may partly be the cause of this disease.Neurologist Dr Roj Svenka, from the University of Medical Sciences in Portland, for a long time he treated his patients with multiple sclerosis diet with low saturated fat, quite successfully. At the British medical journal " The Lancer ,"Dr Svenka demonstrated his success with this diet in the year 1990.He followed 144 patients during 34 years.It turned out that those who reduced their intake of saturated fat to less than 20 grams per day had much less worsening of the disease and a lower mortality rate than those who ate more saturated fats.

Most obvious benefit from the diet received those who started with the elimination of fat at an earlier stage of the disease. " If we underwent with a diet before they developed disability,95 % of them lived 30 years without significant disability.Everyone who failed to adhere to the diet were getting increasingly worse and most of them died in the course of 20 years," says Dr Svenka.

Dr Svenka made an introduction of even less saturated fat diet - more than 15 grams a day - which brings larger and faster improvement.It seems that for these patients the effect of dairy fat was the most harmful.In second place was the fat from the meat.

At the same time, these patients may need higher amounts of omega -3 fats from the sea.In a recent study,Dr. Ralph Holman from the University of Minnesota and Dr. Emre Kokmen from the Mejo Clinic showed that patients with multiple sclerosis have a very dysfunctional relationship of fatty acids in the blood,which is characterized by a severe lack of omega -3 fatty acids.

Dr Holman accused mainly an imbalance of fatty acids for the disorder in metabolising fats and believes that this could be partially repaired with intake of the oil rich in omega - 3 fatty acids . " Fish oil is the most powerful ," he says,and some vegetable oils,mainly canola ( rapeseed oil ) and from flax seed, can also help. Its not needed an " astronomical amount of oil " in order to improve the deficiency,says Dr. Holman. "Only a couple of tablespoons a day are enough. "

According to a recent British study,the fish oil,during the three-year period,reduced the degree of deterioration in a group of 312 patients with multiple sclerosis.The best source of omega 3 fatty acids is oily saltwater fish,especially tuna,sardines, mackerel and salmon,there are also other fish and seafood,then the flax seed,walnuts and kiwi.

The main points of the Dr Svenka diet for multiple sclerosis:

No red meat during the first year of the disease,including dark chicken and turkey.After that,no more than 100g of red meat a week, with the least possible amount of fat. No dairy products with 1 percent or more butterfat.You can take a small amount of low-fat milk,skim milk,skim milk powder,cheese less than 1 % fat and fat-free yogurt. No industrial food with saturated fats.

No more than 15 grams,or three tablespoons of saturated fat a day. One cup of whole milk contains 5 grams of saturated fat,one tablespoon of butter - 7g,and 100 grams of cream cheese - 6 grams.

Minimum four to ten tablespoons of unsaturated fat per day,such as sunflower and corn oil,cottonseed oil shift,soy and sesame oil, wheat germ oil,flax seed and peanut and olive oil. One tablespoon of cod liver oil and fish several times a week,or an average of 30 grams a day of saltwater fish.( Detailed Diet of Dr Svenka in the book " The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book, New York , Doubleday , 1987)

1 comments:

Fats are a very "Hot" topic especially in Multiple Sclerosis! Yes, no question, the fishing communities have survived better because of the omega oils. The Brain and neurons are composed of a high percentage of fat. But what the article and study does not address is that MS is often caused by autoimmunity (immune cells attacking myelin). It is no wonder that the group who consumed dairy did worse. Dairy protein is cross-reactive along w/ gluten. So it is possible that it was not the fat in the dairy but the cross-reactive protein that lead to the progression of the disease. Patients in the study should have been screened for autoimmunity and immediately taken off of gluten and dairy.So, lets not "throw the baby out w/ the bath water" and assume that fats from animal sources are unhealthy. We need saturated and unsaturated fats for the production of hormones and to battle inflammation.What is curious to me is: So it's obvious that we need some fats but exactly how much?Why are MS patients are unable to process fats? Is the source of this problem due to liver metabolic dysfunction? Would it be better to support the Liver through diet than simply eliminating fats? What role does medications for MS play in liver dysfunction & fat metabolism? These are some questions that still need to be answered...